A Chase Bank branch, which opened around 2011 at the corner of Mission and 21st streets, is slated to close permanently next Tuesday.
On a drizzling Monday afternoon, about a dozen customers waited in the bank lobby at 2500 Mission St. During its busiest days, some 150 to 200 people visit the branch, sometimes more, said Sanjay Bhupthi, a security guard at the bank.
Bhupthi started work two weeks ago, and faces uncertainty about his future shifts; he will work at other locations if his security company gets more contracts, he hopes. The Chase employees at the branch, he said, will be shifted to other branches.
Closure notices were posted at the bank entrance, on ATM screens and at the counter, informing customers to visit the closest branch, at Mission and 25th streets, in the future. Consolidating the two branches, a Chase spokesperson said, is part of Chase’s efforts to “optimize our branch network.”
This location is the only Chase branch that will close in San Francisco this year, according to the spokesperson.
Chase bank branches in the Mission
16th St
Mission St
Chase branch
closing
24th St
16th St
Mission St
Chase branch
closing
24th St
Chart by Junyao Yang.
Customers received a notice about the branch’s closure in mid-September. Banks are required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to mail a notice of closure to customers at least 90 days before the closing date.
Still, Chloe Beebe, who lives close by, did not realize the branch was closing until she came by on Monday. “I get quarters here for my laundry,” she said. On every visit, she usually gets $20 worth.
She will now have to go down to 25th Street; the next closest branch, at 14th and Valencia streets, doesn’t exchange coins, she said.
Earlier this year, a car crashed into the front of the bank branch, damaging the concrete columns and metal guardrails. The store’s facade remained unfixed for months, its rebar exposed and the damage lightly protected by yellow caution tape.
Repair on the facade started on Tuesday morning, a week before closure.
Edmond Lim, landlord of the property, did not know about the damage to the building as of Monday, nor was he sure about when the bank would close. Lim was not worried about finding the next tenant for the space. At least, “not yet,” he said.
There are ample reasons to be worried, however. Commercial spaces on Mission Street, many with larger square footage, are more difficult to fill, compared to counterparts on Valencia or 24th streets. A similar corner space at Mission and 17th streets, for example, has been sitting vacant for more than six years.
During an election year, some empty bank branches were occupied as campaign headquarters. Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie’s headquarters in the Inner Sunset was once a Bank of America branch. Ahsha Safaí’s campaign took up the U.S. Bank space on 22nd and Mission.
Once again, these large spaces, some with an interior vault, are vacant. And, by the end of 5 p.m. next Tuesday, the corner of 21st and Mission will join them.
Very puzzling that the landlord would not know about the damage to the building. Who’s paying for the repairs?
Good. Do business with your local credit unions instead.
Seems like the bigger story here is how the landlord went at least seven months without knowing his building was damaged in a car crash. That’s the kind of absenteeism I expect of residential property owners, not major banks!
This is Jackie Fielder’s Mission District now—blight, crime, empty storefronts. And what will she do in response? More virtue signaling I’m guessing.
You are already blaming Fielder and she hasn’t even started as Supervisor yet?
Hopefully Fielder becomes a bulldog for the Mission. She can do a lot of good to bring businesses back to commercial corridors, improve public safety, jumpstart stalled projects, and make quality of life better for all the various D9 and citywide stakeholders. The good news is that the Mission, like San Francisco as a whole, is a sleeping giant and even minor efforts will have an outsize impact.
Staunchly opposed Fielder. Was a proud and unashamed Chandler supporter. However, Fielder won fair and square.
I’ve been begging people to give Mayor Lurie a chance, and I will grant the same for Fielder. Both have been meeting since the transition and vowed to work together for the good of the Mission. So let’s focus on holding them to that.
Preston, Peskin, Ronen and Breed are all gone now. Chan has moved to the center. Fielder has walked back a lot of her Defund rhetoric. This is her chance to prove it.
Agreed. Fielder, like Ronan will be just as useless. I wish the Mission residents would just wake up. We need business and law enforcement in the Mission for it to be safe, thrive and attached more businesses. Fielder is going to just be another ideological idiot.
I don’t like this bank, they falsely claimed I owed them $13.00 and then said I didn’t after all and then again claimed I did but at least they didn’t report me for delinquency.